1. Area of Invention
The invention relates to a method of generating electrical power by extraction of potential energy in a deep water environment.
2. Prior Art
The desire to develop new methods of generating electricity has been a driving force throughout recent human history. At present, there are two main methods of generating electricity each with its own challenges: one uses fuel as the energy source and the other utilizes natural phenomena. Fuel-based energy generation has problems of cost of the fuel as well as the polluting byproducts of such fuel consumption. Exemplary fuels used as the energy source for power generation include coal, natural gas, nuclear fuel, and petro-chemicals. The challenges associated with using natural phenomena as an energy source vary with the technology used. For example, solar and wind forces do not produce energy in a predictable amount and the energy is often generated during off-peak consumer demand. Hydroelectric power provides a source of energy that can be harvested when needed, but the damming of bodies of water causes significant environmental harm. Nor is it readily responsive to power grid demand geometries. Other natural phenomena used to produce energy, for example, geothermal ocean waves, ocean thermal and buoyancy, are expensive to build and operate relative to the amount of energy they produce.
There are a few researchers who have utilized the potential energy from the gravitational force upon deep water to create pressure differentials between deep water and a low pressure vessel therein to produce useful work or energy.
Various efforts however have appeared in the past to attempt to harness the absolute pressure as well as associated potential energy associated with the extreme pressures which exist in deep water environments. Representative examples of these efforts appear in U.S. Pat. No. 3,163,985 (1965) to Bouyoucos, entitled Hydraulic Energy Storage System; U.S. Pat. No. 3,504,648 (1970) to Kriedt, entitled Deep Water Hydraulic Power Unit; U.S. Pat. No. 4,181,455 (1980) to Stanwick, entitled Apparatus For Generating Rotary Power in A Deep Sea Environment; U.S. Pat. No. 4,210,820 (1980) to Wittig, entitled Open Cycle System Structure; U.S. Pat. No. 6,666,024 (2003) to Moskal, entitled Method and Apparatus for Generating Energy Using Pressure From a Large Mass; and U.S. Pat. No. 7,188,471 (2007) to Walters, entitled Submersible Water Plant; and U.S. Pat. No. 7,911,073 (2011) to Smith, entitled Hydro-Hydraulic Gravitational Generator.
None of the above efforts have been commercially successful.
It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide a deep water power generation system which responds to the long-felt need which, inter alia, is reflected is reflected in the deficiencies in the art cited above in achieving this objective.